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Should I ship a Trading Card Game Tactical game?
Tactical + Trading Card Game
Of 43 developers who shipped a Trading Card Game Tactical game in the last 2 years: 3 in 10 made under est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method., the middle one made est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method., 1 in 4 cleared est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method., 1 in 20 cleared est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 87 more are announced, ×3.1 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $1.4k, ×2.3 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $150; 1 in 20 cleared $16k, ×26 the market median. Revenue is down 85% on the market; 87 games are announced against 28 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $150 (exactly $150) |
|---|---|
| Median | $1.4k (exactly $1,438) |
| Top 25% | $6.1k (exactly $6,110) |
| Top 5% | $16k (exactly $16,195) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 43 |
| Released games | 131 |
| Announced | 87 |
| Effort | 6 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $7.99 |
momentum: how a niche's revenue percentiles and developer count moved between two equal, adjacent periods, divided by the market's own move. See method., 12 months: revenue down 85% on the market, supply 85% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 38%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Tactical
- effort 6 / 10 · medium · effort 6 sits in the medium band
- Trading Card Game
- effort 6 / 10 · medium · effort 6 sits in the medium band
What it takes
- Effort
- 6 / 10 · full 3D single-player, physics sims, content-heavy RPG
- Systems
- Tactical, Trading Card Game; 8 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Card Game, Strategy, Card Battler
- Price point
- $7.99 typical · top 25% priced $24.99 or above
- Art
- 3 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D, Colorful, 3D
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $24.99 or above; the middle game at $7.99.
The top 10 games average 80% positive over 509 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $150. 9 in 10 of the 20 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 87 games are announced against 28 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.1 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Tactical with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + Football (American)Strong odds
- + Mystery DungeonStrong odds
- + Dating SimFair
- + 6DOFFair
- + Word GameFair
- + TypingFair
- + DwarvesFair
- + Traditional RoguelikeFair
- + Dynamic NarrationFair
- + Farming SimFair
- + SolitaireFair
- + LGBTQ+Fair
Comparable games
Rento Fortune: Online Dice Board Game (大富翁) 2017 · $459k 
Ascension: Deckbuilding Game 2014 · $430k 
Arcanium: Rise of Akhan 2022 · $402k 
Heart of Crown PC 2017 · $396k 
Ruff Ghanor 2024 · $261k | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Rento Fortune: Online Dice Board Game (大富翁) | older | $4.99 | 3,063 50% | 92k | $459k (exactly $458,531) | LAN - GAMES LTD |
| | Ascension: Deckbuilding Game | older | $9.99 | 1,435 88% | 43k | $430k (exactly $430,070) | Playdek, Inc. |
| | Arcanium: Rise of Akhan | older | $19.99 | 670 81% | 20k | $402k (exactly $401,799) | Supercombo, Inc. |
| | Heart of Crown PC | older | $24.99 | 528 80% | 16k | $396k (exactly $395,842) | illuCalab, FLIPFLOPs, Japanime Digital |
| | Ruff Ghanor | older | $19.99 | 435 85% | 13k | $261k (exactly $260,869) | DX Gameworks |
 | Cardaclysm | older | $14.99 | 425 64% | 13k | $191k (exactly $191,122) | Elder Games |
 | Culdcept The First | $29.99 | 95 74% | 2.9k | $85k (exactly $85,472) | CITY CONNECTION | |
 | The Amazing American Circus | older | $14.99 | 138 61% | 4.1k | $62k (exactly $62,059) | Klabater, Juggler Games |
 | Etherlords II | older | $4.99 | 372 85% | 11k | $56k (exactly $55,688) | Nival |
 | Castle Cardians | · EA older | $14.99 | 113 72% | 3.4k | $51k (exactly $50,816) | 风宇冲 |
 | Islets Defense | $9.99 | 129 94% | 3.9k | $39k (exactly $38,661) | MiniGoof | |
 | Ariokan™ - create your cards, break the Meta | $29.99 | 18 94% | 540 | $16k (exactly $16,195) | Fatum Games SL | |
 | Card Summoner | $14.99 | 32 50% | 960 | $14k (exactly $14,390) | Happenstance Games | |
 | ChronoBabes | $3.99 | 81 80% | 2.4k | $9.7k (exactly $9,696) | Vinci | |
 | Musicmenia | $9.99 | 32 90% | 960 | $9.6k (exactly $9,590) | Symphonic Games | |
 | Truco Argentino | $5.99 | 46 95% | 1.4k | $8.3k (exactly $8,266) | Agustin Rambaldo | |
 | Wild Country | $24.99 | 11 54% | 330 | $8.2k (exactly $8,247) | Lost Native | |
 | Schoolgirl Card Pull Simulator | $6.99 | 34 61% | 1.0k | $7.1k (exactly $7,130) | Violet Soft | |
 | Card of Legend | $6.99 | 31 54% | 930 | $6.5k (exactly $6,501) | Anchor Node |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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